You'll Always Be My Number Ed
by Peach Creek
Summary: EddyxMoney one-shot. Eddy loses his first tooth and gains the love of his life: a dollar. Rated K.


Eddy stared down at his hand, horrified. One minute he was eating his PB&J and the next he was biting down on something hard. He'd shouted in pain and spit the object out, and now he felt himself beginning to cry. At the sound of his sniffles, Ed came charging around the table, arms extended for a hug. He slammed into Eddy, and before the little schemer could stop it, the object flew out of his hands. He screamed. Edd looked up from his chapter book and brought his hands up to catch it before it could hit the ground. He peered at it curiously before jerking back with a look of pure terror on his face.

"Eddy!" he gasped. "Why am I holding your tooth? This is so unsanitary!"

"I don't know!" Eddy wailed.

Ed jumped up, holding his short friend several inches off the ground and swinging him around wildly as he lunged for the tooth. Edd gladly relinquished it and ran for the hand sanitizer on the teacher's desk.

"Your tooth is escaping, Eddy!" Ed shouted. "I will save you!"

He squished Eddy against his body with his elbow and pried Eddy's mouth open. He took the tooth and began to jam it into the glaring gap in Eddy's teeth. Edd scurried back over and clung to the bigger boy's arm.

"Ed, stop! You're going to injure him!"

Immediately, Ed dropped Eddy and the tooth. Eddy scooped his tooth up and ran for the teacher. She calmly informed him that everybody loses their teeth sometime. Eight years old is a perfect time to do it. Soon he would have his grown-up teeth. She got him a little bag to put the tooth in, and he kept it clasped tightly in his hand until the bell announced that it was time to go home.

He ran out, leaving his friends behind. This was important, after all. He met his mom at the car and hopped into his booster seat with a grin. Proudly displaying his tooth, he demanded to know if the tooth fairy would come. Reassured that she would, he sat back to enjoy his snack of a cheese stick and two cookies. He carried the tooth around with him all day, finally slipping it under his pillow at his mother's insistence as he climbed into bed. He sat awake for nearly half an hour, shifting giddily and lifting his pillow occasionally to check that the tooth was still there. When he woke up, the tooth was gone. In its place sat a crisp dollar bill. Slowly, he picked it up and held it in front of his face. He fell in love instantly.

The next day at school, he held it against his face until his teacher finally made him put it away. He tucked it carefully into his pocket and stared dreamy-eyed at nothing for the duration of the lesson. Ed leaned to whisper to Edd about how cute the little lovebirds were, and Edd just rolled his eyes. At recess, he confronted his friend.

"Eddy, why are you holding a dollar against your face? Don't you know how many germs accumulate on money as it changes hands?" Edd wrinkled his nose at the thought.

"Don't talk about her like that!" Eddy protested.

"About who?"

"Her." Eddy gazed lovingly at the bill in his hand. "She's perfect and pretty and I'm in love."

"Can I be the flower girl at your wedding?" Ed shouted.

"No! Get away, Lumpy! You're gonna get your stinky all over her!" He shoved at the taller of the three and clutched the dollar against his chest.

"Eddy, it isn't a person, you realize," Edd explained kindly.

"Shh! You're just jealous!" Eddy ran off to crouch protectively in the sandbox.

Edd shook his head with a sigh. Eddy was clearly delusional. He would have to do something. He spent art class fashioning a pair of pipe cleaner and construction paper glasses. When they returned to class, he shoved them onto Eddy's face.

"What do you see, Eddy?"

"Nothin'." Eddy pulled at the glasses, grumbling when Edd slapped his hand away.

"Exactly. Eddy, what are you holding in your hand?"

"A dollar."

Edd pulled the glasses off. "What are you holding in your hand?"

"My baby!" He planted a kiss on the bill.

Edd held in his disgusted wheeze. He slid the glasses back into place. "Eddy, what you are holding is merely a piece of paper."

"I know that, Sockhead! It's…oh."

"Oh is right. If I take these off now, can you please behave like a normal person?"

"Sure, sure. Whatever."

"Okay, then." Edd pulled the glasses and watched warily as Eddy scowled and shoved the bill into his pocket.

"Come on, Double D. We're gonna be late!"

Edd sighed in relief. "Yes, of course." He scurried through the classroom door.

Eddy slipped a hand in to caress the dollar. "Don't worry, baby," he whispered. "You'll always be my number one."


End file.
